The Swedish cross-country men are doing a lousy Olympics and 19-year-old Alvar Myhlback shouldn’t have left Italy. A multi-year plan should have made him a medal contender in the final men’s five-mile race.
But considering how he was treated by the management of the national ski team, it makes perfect sense that he was already in Trysil, Norway this weekend. Instead of staying in Trentino, Italy and learning how to train extremely hard without crossing the border.
Ten out of ten it would have been worse if more teams had started.
In the wake of Sweden’s epic fiasco in the men’s relay (ten out of ten, it would have been worse if more teams had competed), my thoughts wandered to another sport in another time.
Everyone already knew it He was an extreme talent, he had broken through and when it came time for the 2002 World Cup, 20-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic was ready to shine.
However, he was only given a supporting role by national team captains Lars Lagerbäck and Tommy Söderberg.
Zlatan was not allowed to start in any of Sweden’s four games. Marcus Allbäck started everyone, Zlatan only got two late substitutions. It was entirely in keeping with the way the Swedish football establishment has dealt with Ibrahimovic so far.
Swedish football had never seen anyone like Zlatan. He had to push open doors that were pushed back. Make your own tracks in the traditional deep snow of football.
Swedish traditional cross-country skiing I’ve never seen anyone like Alvar Myhlback and I didn’t know how to deal with him.
Does Swedish sport even know this?
What do you do with the few individuals who break all systems, ingrained patterns and logic?
The loudest voices in the Swedish sports debate are that young talent should hurry up. There is talk of elimination and competitive heat. Everyone has to get on the same braking system.
But what do you do with the few individuals who break all systems, deeply rooted patterns and all logic?
Swedish sport is having a hard time with someone who wanted to be the best in the world from an early age and says this:
– How could I train so much? when I was twelve? I wasn’t interested. It just interested everyone else.
In the SVT series “Utan Filter” Alvar says this and Father Petter says this:
– The fact that Alvar trained a lot from a young age worried me a lot. A twelve-year-old who began his training as a top athlete at the highest international level.
Alvar Myhlback did it.
In contrast, traditional cross-country stars like Edvin Anger and William Poromaa have struggled to take the next step after winning medals at the Trondheim 2025 World Championships.
You bet. Wanted to get even closer to Norway, but failed so far during the Olympics.
It’s too early to discount Poromaa’s chances in the five-mile run, but after the season there will likely be an investigation into what went wrong for the men during the Olympics.
One thing can already be determined:
You didn’t train too little.
Per Elofsson also had a lot of fun as he trained until the end.
Anger says that he trained very well in preparation for the season, but then he “went on tour”. Per Elofsson also had a lot of fun as he trained until the end.
In the SVT documentary, Anton Järnberg, Alvar Myhlback’s sports director in the long-distance team, says:
– He was already fully grown at the age of 15.
And Emil Persson remembers when Alvar took part in the first camp with the team as a 16-year-old. The skier, who won the Vasaloppet and overall victory at the Ski Classics, says the experienced skiers thought Alvar wouldn’t be able to keep up with a five-hour session.
– In the end he scared us all off. He just ran away from us like shit.
The management of the traditional national teams obviously knew how good Alvar Myhlback was and what extreme talent he had.
But they didn’t do anything about it.
Says Norwegian legend Petter Northug in the SVT series that 95 percent of all skiers are average people who go with the flow and are happy with it. Northug about Myhlback:
– If you go your own way, push boundaries, train a lot, think outside the box a little and are not a typical skier – then people will react.
The national team responded by not acting.
The world’s greatest skiing talent did not compete in the proper qualifying race, and that has to happen according to the federation’s system.
Imagine if Alvar, when he was 15-16 years old three or four years ago, was told:
How do you want to set it up to have the best chance of winning gold at the 2026 Olympics and the Falun 2027 World Championships?
Instead, he was banned from taking part in the Junior World Championships last year. The world’s greatest skiing talent did not compete in the proper qualifying race, and that has to happen according to the federation’s system.
Myhlback left the Olympic Games ninth and the best Swede in the sprint. Then the national team management announced that Alvar didn’t want to drive the five miles because he didn’t feel prepared.
– How do you know I don’t want to go? “As far as I know, I’m not selected,” Myhlback himself told Aftonbladet as he packed the car.
Alvar Myhlback should have been prepared for the race a long time ago. He can jump, he can sprint, he could have taken diagonal running to the same level.
Instead, the endurance team gave him attention and support over several years, which made Alvar Myhlback feel good and became the favorite for his second Vasalopp win in a row.
19 years young.
Read more:
Sweden last in the relay – Vallaren after the accident: “Terrible”
